More fun exciting news.
A couple of nights ago, I check out Craigslist in the MOTORCYCLES listing. The most recent post was for a 1981 KZ440. The same make, model, and year as my cycle!
I emailed the seller and made an appointment to come see it this afternoon.
Turns out it was the SAME guy as I bought my original frame from! He recognized me and said that he had gone to my web site a couple times to see what I did on my electric motorcycle.
I ended up buying the cycle for what I thought was a pretty good price. It works, but needs a little carb work.
My plan it to use it for reference for my upcoming BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE instructional DVD. The fenders on my cycle are kinda rusty and some other parts are mis-matched. I want to swap out some parts for the video to make my electric motorcycle look as nice as possible.
After I am done with the electric motorcycle video, I'm not sure what I will do with the new gasser KZ440. I may keep it and use it as a commuter vehicle. I could also sell it easily for more than I bought it (especially once gas hits $5/gal.)
A friend of mine also pointed out that some guys in our local EV group have been interested in doing a motorcycle, so it might end up becoming EV motorcycle #2.
Anyways, here's that bike:
The other exciting thing is that I think FINALLY figured out the right way to mount the batteries in my EV cycle. Looking at the gas cycle got me thinking...
The components are kind of mounted in there like an "L", and on the EV cycle, that's what I need - a shape that gets around the space taken up by electric motor.
All that's required to do that IS TO STAND A BATTERY ON END! Why have I never thought of that before!?!?! It just dawned on me that these batteries can literally be mounted in any direction except upside down!
There's even a sticker on the one battery that the manufacturer intentionally puts on upside down! (And then there is fine print that says not to mount the batteries upside down, but they won't SPILL if they are upside down...)
I stacked the batteries in the new orientation. They take up less space side to side. They PERFECTLY clear the gas tank.
Here's a reverse angle, where the other pair of batteries will go, but you can see the first pair from the back.
And here's the best part: the batteries barely stick outside the frame at all!
Here's a front view.
It even leaves me a little bit more room to work with than I had before! This should work great for mounting the main contactor and controller - both were really cramped before!
Looks like the next step will be to take some measurements to design up a welded steel battery rack!!!
In the last couple of years, I have slowly been doing a little bit of welding and powder-coat painting. I think it's time for me to finally make something cool with it.
I'm planning on sandblasting and repainting the gas tank and powder-coating the battery rack. Should look awesome!
